Tag Archives: ronnie dunn

Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood perform at the Oklahoma Twister Relief Concert at the Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on Saturday, July 6, 2013 in Norman, Okla. (Photo by Alonzo Adams/Invision/AP)

NORMAN, Okla. -- Toby Keith did his hometown proud at Saturday's Oklahoma Twister Relief Concert at the University of Oklahoma as a sold-out crowd enjoyed an oppressively overheated show packed with country music superstars.

It was well after dark when Keith was introduced to the record-breaking crowd of 60,000-plus by Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin.

"We may have had setbacks here, but we will have a really strong Oklahoma comeback," she told the raucous audience before Keith strolled out and began his show with "Made in America." The relaxed country star raised his red cup, which has its own holder on his mike stand, and invited all of his assembled closest friends to sing "Red Solo Cup" with him.

Dunn and his wife Janine had just woken up on his tour bus behind a Cracker Barrel in Oklahoma on May 20 when Dunn noticed the sky had turned a nasty shade of gray. His wife suggested they turn on the Weather Channel and when they did, they learned what is now known to be an F-5 tornado was on the ground near Moore, Okla., about 40 miles west of them. The twister was headed west.

“There were people standing out in parking lots looking up at the sky, and in Oklahoma when they do that, it’s serious,” Dunn said.

Dunn had his driver fire up the bus and they started driving back to Nashville on a path parallel to the storm. He watched as the reports started coming on of the devastation and sent out a few tweets and posted on Facebook about the tornado. He said within a few minutes he heard from the CEO of Verizon who wanted to help the area. Soon after he got a call from the head of the company that distributes CDs and DVDs to Walmart, who broached the idea of a benefit concert for the victims and survivors of the Oklahoma tornadoes.

“I said, ‘You know what, I’m not worth a hundred tickets. Let me make some calls and we’ll see what we can do. I’m going to throw some hail marys right here,’” Dunn said.

He texted Brooks who immediately called him back and said he wanted to be involved in whatever was planned. Dunn then called Keith, a native of Moore, and told him of the plan – but added they wanted to take Keith’s lead, since it was his hometown.

Keith asked for Brooks’ telephone number and Dunn gave it to him. Keith called Dunn back and confirmed what he already knew: Brooks was in.

“I hope Garth’s not mad at me for giving Toby his telephone number,” Dunn said. “In my mind, with Garth getting involved, especially in Oklahoma, it takes it from a concert to an event in a hurry.”

Dunn says that with reports of people still living in tents in front of their demolished homes, much aid is still needed in the area and that proceeds from the concert will go to The United Way of Central Oklahoma May Tornadoes Relief Fund.

To donate to The United Way of Central Oklahoma May Tornadoes Relief Fund call 405-236-8441 or give $10 by texting REBUILD to 52000.

At this point, no decision has been made on whether the show will be broadcast on television.

NORMAN, Okla. - Another star-studded country music concert is planned to benefit victims of the deadly tornadoes in Oklahoma last month.

Toby Keith announced Thursday that his Oklahoma Twister Relief Concert will be held July 6 at the University of Oklahoma's Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman. Joining Keith is fellow Oklahoman Garth Brooks and his wife, Trisha Yearwood.

"We recorded 20 songs, and we're going to leave it up to you to come up with a title," Dunn said during a CMA Close Up interview inside Music City Center.

"Two of them, 'Country This' and 'Kiss You There' are up on iTunes, for 69 cents. I can do that because I'm an independent label now."

Dunn celebrated all of that on Thursday, with a surprise, four-song performance on Lower Broadway. He said his publicist arranged for dancers to join him.

"That's called a flash mob," he said. "I'm new to that. I was around when the line dancing thing happened years ago."

In fact, Dunn's "Boot Scootin' Boogie" was an anthem when the line dancing thing happened years ago.
"I used to be a singer in Brooks & Dunn," he playfully advised the same fans who helped Brooks & Dunn become the best-selling country music duo in history.

Dunn displayed six photos of sunsets that he took at his New Mexico property. Those photos are being auctioned off during CMA Music Festival, with proceeds going to the CMA's music education initiative. Continue reading →

Although the morning was riddled with raindrops and a shortage of ponchos, it didn’t hold off thousands of country music fans from lining the streets of Broadway in downtown Nashville for the 2013 CMA Fest Kickoff Parade.

Fortunately, the wet weather held off for the most part as the parade began shortly after 11 a.m., ushered in by Grand Marshal Kix Brooks.

This years parade showcased many of the festival’s talent that will grace the stages around Music City this week, as well as representatives from Chevrolet, Operation: Troop Aid, Jelly Belly jellybeans and many other fan clubs and student organizations.

Finishing off the parade was a cavalcade of red shirts and neon signs, each emblazoned with either a giant “Aw” or “Naw.” This was Chris Young’s fan club, which gathered by the dozens from all over the world including Texas, California, Australia and the United Kingdom.

Many in the fan club, like Aishling Leahy, who is from Ireland, only met in Nashville a few days ago, but have been friends for years through their mutual love for country music.

“I can’t even describe how much it has changed my life. Even though we’re all in different time zones, we’ve still managed to have conversations and all get here today,” Leahy says.

GAC’s Storme Warren emceed the festivities and promised that Ronnie Dunn will have a special surprise in store for those who come back to the parade area around 9:30 p.m. tonight.

Ronnie Dunntold Oklahoma newspaper Tulsa World that he was working with fellow Oklahoma natives Brooks and Toby Keith to assemble a summertime benefit concert for Oklahoma tornado victims. Dunn’s publicist confirmed a show was definitely happening, and said an official announcement would be made after the details were finalized.

In addition, Brooks is heading back to Las Vegas for a series of concerts at Wynn Las Vegas July 4-6. The performances will be filmed for a television special highlighting his run of shows at Wynn’s Encore Theater and will be available on DVD and Blu-Ray. Tickets for those shows go on sale at noon Monday through Ticketmaster, 1-800-745-3000.

Perhaps it’s easier to identify which Grammy categories don’t have Nashville connections than which ones do. We never take the easy way out. Here is our annual guide to noteworthy Grammy nominations with Music City connections.

Record of the Year

Three of the six top record candidates hail from Nashville, with The Black Keys’ roots rock, Kelly Clarkson’s throb-pop and Taylor Swift’s crossover smash competing against category favorites from Gotye, fun. and Frank Ocean. Music City is unlikely to come out with a win here, but the Nash-strength in a category traditionally dominated by New York and Los Angeles-based efforts is a telling indicator of our Tennessee capital’s successfully ecumenical approach to record-making.

Album of the Year

White and the Keys are at the forefront of a new century of Nashville rock resurgence that also includes Kings of Leon, Jeff the Brotherhood and others.

Song of the Year

“Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)” by Kelly Clarkson.

Clarkson, who first entered the popular fray as an “American Idol” diva, has lately bought a place in Nashville and, with the encouragement of Reba McEntire and many more, is moving about freely between pop and country realms. It’s as if she doesn’t understand that the point of music-making is to do the same thing, over and over, all your life.

Click here to see a photo gallery from Wednesday's 'Grammy Nominations Concert Live!!' show. Here, Taylor Swift and LL Cool J perform a rap version of one of her songs during the Bridgestone Arena show on Wednesday night. (Photo: Sam Simpkins/The Tennessean)

But what about three of six all-genre nominations for Record of the Year? And a couple of all-genre Album of the Year nominations? And nods for Best New Artist, Best Pop Instrumental, Best Rock Song (two of those), Best rock Album (two of those, as well), Best Spoken Word Album and Best Song Written For Visual Media?